RYAN Bertrand has told the incredible story of how he learned he was to make his Champions League debut in the biggest match in the 107-year history of Chelsea Football Club.

The 22-year-old was selected by Roberto Di Matteo , in what is surely one of the biggest managerial risks in the 57-year history of the European Cup, to play as an out-of-position left winger in the game at Bayern Munich's Allianz Arena.

The first man ever to make his Champions League debut in the final said of the game: “I was thinking about my brother in the Friary Estate of Peckham and around Bermondsey. I remember playing World Cup, like a tournament with every man for himself, at the bottom of these flats.

“There was spray paint on the wall and a sign saying ‘No ball games’. That meant ‘let’s play football there’.”

Having previously started only a dozen games for Chelsea, the London-born natural full-back became one of the stars who made history for Chelsea as the first London team ever to win the competition.

Bertrand explained: “The manager pulled me in the afternoon and said 'you will be starting this evening'. There had been a lot of speculation but I was really happy and thankful he gave me the nod.

“I did my best to put the fact that it was the Champions League final to the back of my mind and take it as another game. As much as I could anyway.

“I say that but pre-match, trying to prepare for the game, I had all these images flashing through my head. Flashes of where I have been and where I have come from. I wanted to go out there and do myself justice.”

Much of Bertrand's Chelsea career thus far has involved time on loan at lower league clubs including Nottingham Forest, Reading, Norwich, Oldham and Bournemouth.

He said: “I have been on loan quite a lot and I have been taught to play the game and not the occasion. It wasn’t on this scale but hopefully I managed to put it into practice.

“If you go on loan, you have to think about yourself and your career and be realistic. There have been times when I thought maybe this, maybe that but I have stuck in there and thankfully now everything has paid off.

“There have been times when I’ve wondered about whether I would make it here but in life you have to have Plan A, B and C.

“So we looked at it realistically with my mum and my family, but thankfully I have dug in there and managed to turn a few people’s heads and got the start (against Bayern).”